He was very matter of fact as he pointed out the blood vessels and the macula and then showed where millions of tiny nerve fibers converge before their journey through the optic nerve to the brain.

Millions. 

It was something I’d never seen before on a scope I’d never imagined before and I was mesmerized.

We were looking at an image of my retina and I couldn’t stop looking.

If I didn’t already know what it was, I would have thought it was a bird’s-eye view of a whole bunch of rivers converging on a central lake. On Mars.

But it was the back of my eye. A very extremely small place that I’d never before thought about much less appreciated.

It was so elaborate. It was so delicate. It was so necessary.

While waiting for the doctor to talk to me about the other tests they’d conducted on my eyes, I studied a poster on his wall that detailed the muscles and tissues and arteries that help us see.

An eye is unbelievably complicated with more than just a pupil and an iris and eyelashes. There is the cornea, the orbicularis oculi muscle, conjunctiva and superior tarsus, not to mention the choroid, bulbar sheath, vorticose vein and the posterior ciliary arteries. To start.

Believe it or not, there is much, much more.

And to think all those tiny parts have to be in just the right place and then work together in just the right way. Twice. For every person you see … to see you too.

We have recently participated in the season that celebrates gratitude.

Our grateful lists often, and rightly, include friends, family, faith and freedom.

I am newly grateful for my retina and all that surrounds it. And for the miracle of sight. The gift of my eyes.

And then when you add to that the miracle of an ear, a nose, a finger, a knee, you quickly realize we are walking miracles.

And while everything doesn’t always work perfectly for everyone, what does work is reason for celebration. 

Now we are in the season of looking toward a new year.

And we so often talk of all that is going wrong and worry about what may yet, forgetting – or perhaps not seeing – what is going right.

I did not appreciate what those blood vessels and those millions of fibers sending signals to my brain have been so busy doing.

It was just going on without any conscious help from me and thus, no conscious appreciation.

Same in life.

Wow. We live in houses that are warm in winter and cool in the hot summers. We drive on (mostly) well-maintained roads. We are protected by laws and law enforcement. We can go to schools and study what interests us, find jobs in a variety of areas, get health care when needed.

It doesn’t always work for everyone, and those of us who are blessed to live where it does work might be wise to look to find ways to help where it doesn’t. Because when it does work, it’s reason for celebration.

We can start the new year with a new vision. Knowing we have more going for us than we might even be aware of. Inside us, outside and around us.

May we see more clearly.

May we celebrate more often.